Multi-Tier Application Programming with PHP (Morgan Kaufmann) by David Wall

At this point in PHP’s dynamic evolution there is a new buzzword doing the rounds: “enterprise”. It is becoming commonly accepted that PHP is a capable language choice as part of an enterprise solution; this book plays upon those thoughts and offers the readers a chance to witness the author build a complete PHP application with multi-tier architecture and scalability at its core, something of a dream for those of us who are at the level where they are progressing beyond the single server/application environment.

In this book author David Wall shows us how to create a PHP application based specifically on a multi-tier architecture and design. The question is: does it live up to the claims?

International PHP Magazine (you know php|arch readers.. the other one) received something of a face-lift today on its web site. Gone are the yellow and blue colours, and in comes a "whoa! where's my contrast switch?" fresh-green style. Better? Worse? Well it doesn't really make all that much difference, because the real content is the magazine itself, and this one happens to have one of my articles in it...

On November 7th Tobias Schlitt and Kore Nordmann released a new alpha of their Image 3D Pear package. The aim of this package is to create 3D objects using nothing but native PHP code (no extensions). The objects can be rendered out via GD, SVG or ASCII. With a number of built-in primitives such as a cube, sphere, cone and torus, plus the ability to place coloured lights, alter object transparency and import 3DS files, this is one powerful package! I gave it a quick run through today and am reporting back on my findings.

I was pleased to see that Zend Studio 5 was released today, although as a long-time Zend customer a little disappointed they didn't email to say, but I'm sure they'll get around to it. The installation was a breeze on my PC and Mac, and it picked up my settings files from v4 without a problem. There are some great new additions in version 5, several of which I personally feel slightly responsible for, let me explain...

I apologise that this isn't PHP related, but it has been annoying the hell out of me for weeks now. The problem is this: Anyone can sign-up for a Google gmail account. Once activated they can enter their settings and set all of their gmail to forward to an external email address (with or without various filtering options). The problem is that no confirmation email is ever sent to that forwarding address. They just blindly assume you'd only ever want to email yourself. A situation that can be used to utterly spam the hell out of someone, and there is nothing that can be done about it, but more worryingly Google do not care.

php architect's Guide to PHP Security (nanobooks) by Ilia Alshanetsky

This book describes itself as a "Step-by-step guide to writing secure and reliable PHP applications. Dealing with real-world examples of proper coding practises, and their implementation in PHP in an accurate, concise and complete way." So does it live up to this claim? and how does it fare compared to the ever increasing rane of PHP Security books out there?

There are millions of lines of PHP code freely available to download from the Internet, but how can you tell if the script you are about to install is going to send your site into oblivion or code nirvana?

At the last count the popular resource site HotScripts.com listed over 6,800 PHP scripts with similar resource sites listing thousands more. No matter where you look on the Web you will find plenty of PHP code that you can download and install onto your web site covering just about everything you could ever need. The ease of developing with PHP has lead to the creation of this script gold mine, and while it can be a wonder to explore there are many factors you should take into consideration before going on a downloading frenzy.

Will the script you are about to install bring your server to a halt? Does it open up glaring security issues? Is there a mess of complex and poorly written code behind the sleek HTML exterior? In this article we get our pick axes ready, delve deep and bring back examples that serve one purpose: to show you what to look out for in other peoples code. By looking at good, bad and just downright ugly snippets of code you can gain a far better understanding of the overall quality of a PHP script.

I firmly believe that if you were to graph it, there would be a serious "slumping" bell shape on an ability vs. productivity chart, based on a developer first learning a language, vs. his/her progression with it.

When brand new to a language I've seen time and again people churn out masses of code. As they explore the new language they take it at face value, and are highly productive. Often cobbling in pieces from other sources (without really knowing what they do) and generally creating the end result extremely fast.

Then the "knowledge" starts to settle in.

I saw this article over on evolt.org today, offering up the evolt php'ers some hot tips to save time, cpu cycles and effort. Great in theory, shame about the actual advice though. First up is the classic "use $var++ instead of $var = $var + 1". While technically I'd agree with this, in the example he was giving it should really have been ++$var, otherwise the actual difference is insignificant. What worried me more however were the "tips" that followed...

Using Transfer Files in PHP, their purpose, implementation and why they might just save your sanity.

At some point, virtually all PHP developers will find themselves in a situation where they are passing values from one PHP script to another. This article focuses on the benefit of using a Transfer File to handle the data exchange and separation of the logic from the display and core processing scripts. Before we jump right into what Transfer Files are, let’s first consider a familiar example that most of us will have come across at some point or other: a user registration page. This page collects information about the user and then submits it for validation and processing.

Joe Celko's Trees and Heirarchies in SQL for Smarties (Morgan Kaufmann) by Joe Celko

How many of us have sat down and written a Category Manager? I'd guess probably everyone reading this. How did you go about structuring that? If, like I did at the start, you used the "Parent -> Child" relationship model, then you ought to take a look at this book.

Pro PHP Security (Apress) by Chris Snyder

This is a pretty comprehensive security book and the largest currently available, with a page count of 500. Not that this is an indication of the quality of the content mind you, but it's good to know that they cover many topics in some depth.

Split into several parts you don't actually touch any real PHP code until Part 3 (page 229). The early chapters of the book cover topics such as Secure Network Connections, User Authentication, SSL, Encryption Theory and Best Practises. All general (and server / network) specific topics that could apply to any language.

I've been asked a few times this week which books I would recommend for subject X. So I thought it wouldn't hurt to show you what is currently on my bookshelf. I'm quite the bookworm, especially when it comes to technical publications and magazines, so here is what I'm flicking through (in no particular order):

Pro PHP Security (Apress) by Chris Snyder
PHP 5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice (Apress) by Matt Zandstra
Essential PHP Tools - Modules, Extensions and Accelerators (Apress) by David Sklar
php architect's Guide to PHP Design Patterns (Nanobooks) by Jason E. Sweat
php architect's Guide to PHP Security (Nanobooks) by Ilia Alshanetsky
Bulletproof Web Design (New Riders) by Dan Cederholm
Joe Celko's Trees and Heirarchies in SQL for Smarties

My review of "The Zend PHP Certification Study Guide" book will appear in issue 11.05 of International PHP Magazine.

Although I cannot reproduce it here yet, my overall opinion of the book was one of "essential, but slightly flawed, reading". Apparently the 11.05 issue of Int PHP mag will be PDF only, they have ditched their print version from what I can gather in favour of a PDF monthly with a print round-up once a year. It's a shame, especially seeing as php architect seems to go from strength to strength, and competiton is always healthy.

I figured that it really was about time I got my PHP blog off the ground. Although I don't consider myself "up there" with such luminaries as Sklar, Zandstra, Alshanetsky or Shiflett, I have been coding in PHP for many years, and hope I can impart some of my findings / experience. As well as gain some feedback on ideas, concepts, niggles and general geek life. I'm using Serendipity, which I have to admit was a complete breeze to get up and running, and am about to hit the themes folder to jazz this place up a little. So, welcome one and all.